The documentary “Saints and Warriors” shows how sport can play an important role in helping Indigenous people maintain their identity and culture. Courtesy photo

For the First Nations people of Canada’s remote archipelago of Haida Gwaii, playing basketball became a vital tool for preserving their culture in the face of government suppression.

In his acclaimed documentary “Saints and Warriors,” Indigenous Haida filmmaker Nang K’uulas Patrick Shannon examines how the Haida embraced the game as a means of resisting colonial assimilation policies and overcoming bans on public gatherings, helping keep their community connected, resilient and united.

“Basketball culture is the culture,” a First Nation player said in the documentary.

Passed in 1876, the Indian Act gave the Canadian government authority to regulate and administer the daily lives of Native peoples. The gathering section of the act was only lifted in 1951. It forbade Indigenous peoples gathering in groups larger than three, with the exception of attending Christian churches or sports participation.

“For us, for our culture, it had to go underground quite a bit, just like every other First Nation on the Northwest Coast,” Shannon explained. “The gathering laws had been technically lifted, but segregation was still heavily in place. Colonial pressures were still so strong to oppress Indigenous peoples through culture that people tried to hide so much of it. Pressures to minimize our culture was still extremely strong up until the 2000s, unless it was showing us off at the Olympics or something like that. The Indian Act is still in place. I have to carry identification that says I’m an Indian under the Indian Act, so I’m effectively a ward of the state.”

Screening at the Wailuku Film Festival at 1:30 p.m. June 19 in the Naylor Theater, “Saints and Warriors” follows the Skidegate Saints as they defend their championship at the All Native Basketball Tournament. On the islands, the Skidegate Saints are a symbol of pride, resilience and the unbreakable spirit of their community.

“Sport was huge for many of the nations up on the Northwest Coast,” he said. “It grew into something that was almost the exclusive way for different nations who had thousands of years of history together, but were cut off, to be able to gather again and to keep those relationships alive.”

He said some of the basketball teams in the islands are comprised of family lineages that date back thousands of years and otherwise may have been forgotten or extinguished, but “basketball keeps it alive.”

Nang K’uulas Patrick Shannon is an award-winning filmmaker from Haida Gwaii, Canada. Courtesy photo

Canada’s treatment of First Nations people is not widely known. “We were really segregated, so we weren’t allowed to talk to one another because that was one of the big tools that Canada used to separate Indigenous peoples,” he noted. “As soon as we were able to talk with one another, that’s when resistances were able to be formed.”

He recalled how his grandmother had told him when she traveled to Vancouver she could only eat in Chinese restaurants because, “they would always have signs, no Blacks, no dogs, no Natives.”

Under Canada’s Pass System, “you couldn’t leave the reserve unless you got a pass from the Indian agent, and it was only for specific purposes that they approved. The intention of the Indian Act was to eradicate the Indians, to get rid of the Indian problem. The origin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was to police the Indians, to make things safe for white people.”

“Saints and Warriors” provides a window into Canada’s past. “It was a way to educate everyone on this history that is not taught in schools. There’s an entire history of Canada that’s been swept under the rug because Indigenous peoples pose an existential threat to Canada. If we were to get our land back that was stolen, Canada would cease to exist.”

Winner of three Leo Awards for best director, best editing and best cinematography, the film illustrates how competing in the basketball tournament is a source of pride and unity for the community.

“The film itself is fun,” said Shannon. “It’s exciting, and it really shows how sport was used as a huge tool for many of the nations up on the Northwest Coast to keep the culture alive during some of the most oppressive eras when our cultures were on the brink of extinction. It started off as a subversive way to keep culture alive and really grew into something that became a foundation of our communities.”

Basketball was a primary way for many of the nations on Canada’s Northwest Coast to keep their culture alive. Courtesy photo

Shannon said that over time, more than 99% of the Haida population “was wiped out. In the late 1700s, the population was over 50,000 and by 1900, it was less than 600.”

In 2025, the Haida Nation won a historic win from the Canadian government, when the government legally agreed that the Crown never owned the Crown land on Haida.

“Our cultures and our communities are recovering,” he said. “We’ve been having tremendous victories within the Canadian court system. We have archaeological evidence showing that we’ve been living there as a thriving culture for over 14,500 years, and it’s been proven that the First Nations are the true titleholders of land. The Haida Nation became the first nation in all of Canada where our inherent right of title was recognized within Canadian law. This is huge, and it set the precedent, which is now knocking dominoes down all across British Columbia, with many other nations having big success as a result.”